The second half was a minor improvement on the first. But it was marginal, and by then United were already 2-0 down after Stoke had capitalised on mistakes from Memphis Depay and Ashley Young.

But that is where we are with United. That a second half when they strung a few passes together, created one or two chances and didn’t concede is seen as a positive. That is embarrassing.

It is now United’s worst run of results since the eight games they went without a win in December 1989. That run ended with a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup, a game that has gone down in history as the one that saved Alex Ferguson’s job.

Van Gaal is starting to look like a man who needs something similar against Chelsea at Old Trafford on Monday – if he makes it that far.

Without any public vote of confidence from Ed Woodward or the Glazers it’s difficult to know where they will draw the line.

It is true, after the defeat to Stoke, that United now have a lower points total at this stage of the season than David Moyes had on Boxing Day in 2013.

That season, United were still in the Champions League and the League Cup. Van Gaal’s United are out of both.

Moyes was also beaten at Stoke in the league and was sacked in April when it became mathematically impossible to qualify for the Champions League.

It will not have escaped Van Gaal’s attention that three league defeats in a row has seen his team drop out of the top four.

Every team goes through difficult periods. But United’s winless run has taken in games against PSV Eindhoven, Leicester, West Ham, Wolfsburg, Bournemouth, Norwich and Stoke. It didn’t look that a dangerous sequence of fixtures when it kicked off at the end of last month. You are left wondering where the next win is coming from.

There was a moment late in the game at the Britannia Stadium when Andreas Pereira, on as a substitute from Ander Herrera, found himself in space on the edge of Stoke’s box. He squared it to Wayne Rooney, and for a brief second, you expected the net to bulge.

But this is a different United.

One where Rooney gets the ball caught under his feet before passing to Juan Mata to fire wide. It summed up a miserable afternoon which only heightened the pressure on Van Gaal.